Lots of little jobs

Lots of little jobs to do. The trailer not the least of them.  While its in pretty good shape, it looks as though it was a power boat trailer set up for a deep vee power boat, and its not quite right in several areas.

You'll note that there is no self centering system on the keel rollers, that has to be fixed, I'm thinking of mounting a 3m piece of 45 x 195 bunk with astrograss on it,  one each side of the keel just above the rollers so the keel will slide up between them staying in the middle of the rollers.  I can put a rubber tyred wheel horizontal each side at the entry point to guide her in, and with luck I'll be able to haul her out onto the trailer myself.
Thats a good start,  the winch will get a spectra cord winchrope, the bearing buddies will be checked to ensure that the bearings are ok ( just done that )  and the winch mounting needs some attention as well.
A jockey wheel came with her, and thats got a broken winding handle mounting block so cant be used, more work.

A view of the cockpit, those locker tops have hinges on the side ones but no catches, and the ones aft under the tiller have neither so there is some thinking and some work to be done there. 

The cockpit is very comfortable though.

Starboard side bunk forward end, that metal strap is the chainplate and the post to the left is the mast support.  Almost out of sight forward of that is the samson post.

Most of the varnished wood in here is eucalyptus of some sort, looks lovely, especially by lamplight.

The galley, at the head of the starboard bunk it slides in under the bridgedeck when not required.  I will have a look around and see if I can find a simple camp stove that will fit in the space on the right.  ALthough its hard to make out, the white wall on the right of the pic is the daggerboard in its up position, its a visual barrier but does not actually get in the way.  The boat sails pretty well without it but I'm told it points the boat up about another 5 deg in light and moderate conditions,  I'll try it and see.

The foredeck, I've some thinking to do about the anchor warp and bobstay, I dont want to allow one to rub on the other, so am planning to secure a 5m long nylon strop to the lower bobstay fitting and put a rolling hitch around the warp so the  strain is taken by the strop down where it cant chafe.  I'll put a ( JW invention) line cleat on there when I get around to making one.  Note, for those who dont know their synthetic ropes there are many different kinds of plastic used in ropes, nylon is not a generic name for those plastics, its a particular fibre, has very good stretch characteristics that reduce shock loading in an anchor line, is extremely strong an sinks ( so other boats wont run over it and chop it up with their props)

Note the nice little bulwarks, makes the side decks much more secure to walk on.  Thats both unusual and very nice on an 18 footer.

I did have a win today, I'd been concerned that the boats new rudder post was binding making the helm extremely stiff, and attacked it today to see how the bottom bearing was secured in order to drop the shaft to see what would be required to free it up.  I figured that some lubrication would be helpful in sliding that post out down the rudder casing, so poured some heated marine grease down there and waggled the tiller for a while to spread it around.  After about half a dozen push and pulls on the tiller the movement became nicely free.  No more work required, whew, thats a big job that I wont need to do.

I'm aiming at next tomorrow for a test sail on a local lake, while the lake is not big the Waikato Trailer Yacht Squadron have race days there so its big enough to accommodate an afternoon sail without getting bored, has a good boatramp and is open enough to allow the breeze in.
I've been out and bought a second hand whistling kettle, a big melamine ( unbreakable plastic) mug, and a Thermos flask, thats just for lunchtime tomorrow and I'll finish outfitting the galley with a bit more gear from the op shop next payday.  Tomorrow, think of me out on the lake, nosed up to a bank of rushes with the trees overhanging,  in bright sun and perfectly calm water puttering away adjusting the lacings on the sails or the jib sheet angles while awaiting the whistle of the kettle.

And thats all from him, and thats all from him.
Today that is

John Welsford